[FairfieldLife] Re: "Mind of the Meditator"

[lengli...@cox.net [FairfieldLife]]

Rolls eyes. 

 You can force silence by distracting the mind and diverting resources away 
from the verbal centers or you can allow the mind to become more calm until 
silence is everywhere.
 

 

 Pure consciousness during TM is no mantra, no thought, no body awareness, no 
intuition, no emotion, no memory, no sensory awareness  of any kind, not just 
"no verbal thoughts."
 

 It occurs spontaneously, not at beck and call, and is accompanies by higher 
levels of alpha coherence in the frontal lobes, along with increased skin 
resistance, abrupt decrease i heart rate as well as an apparent cessation of 
breathing or at least abrupt drop in breath rate.
 

 It's hard to miss when you hook someone up to the right equipment, but what 
they found when the examined the woman who most consistently showed these 
signs, while using the most sophisticated eqiupment, was that she didn't notice 
the existence of the state, only the transition *out of* the state.
 

 

 

 L
  
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 No mantra-No thought 

 Sounds the same.
 

 It is a correct experience of the practice of TM (second night checking) and 
evidently Mindfulness too
 

 Pure Awareness.  
 

 # 
 
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 What they call pure awareness is not what TMers call pure awareness. 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 [Scientific American article by Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. 
Davidson, Nov. 2014, p. 43]
 

 "In our Wisconsin lab, we have studied experienced practioners while they 
performed an advanced form of mindfulness meditation called open presence.  In 
open presence, sometimes called "pure awareness", the mind is calm and relaxed, 
not focused on anything in particular yet vividly clear, free from excitation 
or dullness.  The meditator observes and is open to experience without making 
any attempt to interpret, change, reject or ignore painful sensation"
 ...[the experimenters somehow induced some pain to experienced meditators, 
then compared the results to novices.]
 ."We found that the intensity o0f the pain was not reduced in meditators, but 
it bothered them less than it did members of a control group".
 .
 "Compared with novices, expert meditators' brain activity diminished in 
anxiety related regions - the insular cortex and the amygdala - in the period 
preceding the painful stimulus."
 .
 "Other tests in our lab have shown that meditation training increases one's 
ability to better control and buffer basic physiological responses - 
inflammation or levels of a stress hormone - to a socially stressful task such 
as giving a public speech or doing mental arithmetic in front of a harsh jury."
 .
 ".

[FairfieldLife] Re: "Mind of the Meditator"

[dhamiltony...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

No mantra-No thought 

 Sounds the same.
 

 It is a correct experience of the practice of TM (second night checking) and 
evidently Mindfulness too
 

 Pure Awareness.  
 

 # 
 
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 What they call pure awareness is not what TMers call pure awareness. 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 [Scientific American article by Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. 
Davidson, Nov. 2014, p. 43]
 

 "In our Wisconsin lab, we have studied experienced practioners while they 
performed an advanced form of mindfulness meditation called open presence.  In 
open presence, sometimes called "pure awareness", the mind is calm and relaxed, 
not focused on anything in particular yet vividly clear, free from excitation 
or dullness.  The meditator observes and is open to experience without making 
any attempt to interpret, change, reject or ignore painful sensation"
 ...[the experimenters somehow induced some pain to experienced meditators, 
then compared the results to novices.]
 ."We found that the intensity o0f the pain was not reduced in meditators, but 
it bothered them less than it did members of a control group".
 .
 "Compared with novices, expert meditators' brain activity diminished in 
anxiety related regions - the insular cortex and the amygdala - in the period 
preceding the painful stimulus."
 .
 "Other tests in our lab have shown that meditation training increases one's 
ability to better control and buffer basic physiological responses - 
inflammation or levels of a stress hormone - to a socially stressful task such 
as giving a public speech or doing mental arithmetic in front of a harsh jury."
 .
 ".

[FairfieldLife] The David Lynch Foundation... Its goal is to touch 100 million lives in the next decade.

[lengli...@cox.net [FairfieldLife]]

http://www.spabusiness.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=featuresonline&featureid=29642&mag=Spa%20Business&linktype=story
 
http://www.spabusiness.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=featuresonline&featureid=29642&mag=Spa%20Business&linktype=story

 

 Autoloading is not working but the link seems to be valid.
 

 All in the mind 


 The David Lynch Foundation helps people overcome extreme stress by using the 
power of meditation. Its goal is to touch 100 million lives in the next decade. 
Julie Cramer talks to co-founder Bob Roth to find out more David Lynch is at 
the centre of much media attention of late as he starts filming a conclusion to 
cult TV series Twin Peaks after a 25 year break. The US director is famous for 
his surrealist style in films such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and 
Eraserhead. What many people may not know, is that he’s also a firm believer in 
the beneficial power of transcendental meditation. He says: “I started 
transcendental meditation in 1973 and have not missed a single meditation ever 
since. Twice a day, every day. It has given me effortless access to unlimited 
reserves of energy, creativity and happiness deep within.”
 After a chance meeting with fellow practitioner Bob Roth a decade ago, the 
pair started the David Lynch Foundation and have since helped hundreds of 
thousands of at-risk people using this form of meditation. 
 Here Roth, the co-founder and executive director of the foundation, talks 
about its aim to help 100 million people in the next decade. Given the current 
surge in interest in mindfulness, now is the perfect time for spas to get 
involved he says.
 What’s the main purpose of the David Lynch Foundation? 
We’re a non-profit organisation, founded in 2005 by the film director David 
Lynch, dedicated to making transcendental meditation (TM) accessible to many 
different areas of the population. 
 In the beginning, our focus was on helping at-risk children in low income 
urban schools to cope with the extreme stresses that they were facing. In less 
than 10 years, we’ve touched the lives of more than 500,000 students. 
 Over time, our work has spread to a wider range of people, from the homeless 
to victims of domestic violence, war veterans with post traumatic stress 
disorder and HIV/AIDS sufferers. 
 How did you meet David Lynch?
I was organising a TM conference and David Lynch, who had been practising TM 
for around 30 years, was invited to attend.
 He heard the horror stories about at-risk youth – of kids who witnessed and 
experienced domestic violence and gangland shootings and were then expected to 
go to school and learn algebra. The idea of the foundation was born from this 
meeting and we created it soon after.
 How does TM differ from other forms of meditation? 
According to science, there are three basic approaches to meditation. The first 
is called ‘focused attention’, where you attempt to actively control your 
thoughts, clear your mind, or focus on your breath. This produces the gamma 
brainwaves that are associated with peak concentration.
 The second is ‘open monitoring’ which includes many mindfulness techniques, 
where you learn to observe your thoughts or emotions dispassionately. This 
produces theta brainwaves, which are very slow and present during the REM 
stages of sleep.
 Thirdly is ‘automatic self transcending’, which is transcendental meditation, 
where you learn to effortlessly transcend conscious thinking to achieve a 
profound state of calm, of inner wakefulness. It’s like diving underneath a 
choppy ocean to the calm waters beneath. In this state, deeply relaxing alpha 
brainwaves are present. 
 Because of its simplicity and naturalness TM is the easiest to learn – even a 
10-year-old can practise it. 
 What are the benefits of TM? 
In a society where there’s an epidemic of stress, TM helps people achieve a 
profound state of rest at will. It’s been shown to instantly drop cortisol 
levels by 30 per cent – which is more than we get from a good night’s sleep. 
There’s also evidence that TM reduces high blood pressure as effectively as 
medication, reduces cholesterol, atherosclerosis and risk of stroke; and 
reduces anxiety, depression and insomnia.
 In addition, much research indicates that TM improves memory, creativity and 
problem solving. It wakes up the brain!
 How did you first discover TM? 
I was at the University of Berkeley in California, in the 1960s. It was a time 
of riots, strikes and anti-war demos. Students were being shot and tanks were 
parked outside.
 I wasn’t a hippie or a druggie but I was looking for a natural way to overcome 
the intense pressures of going to school full time, working full time and 
dealing with the social upheaval all around me. A good friend who I trusted 
suggested I try TM. I’m a naturally sceptical person, but my friend was a 
no-nonsense kind of person so I decided to try it. 
 Its effect on me was immediate and profound. I experienced a state of rest and 
relaxation I never knew I coul

[FairfieldLife] Re: "Mind of the Meditator"

[lengli...@cox.net [FairfieldLife]]

What they call pure awareness is not what TMers call pure awareness. 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 [Scientific American article by Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. 
Davidson, Nov. 2014, p. 43]
 

 "In our Wisconsin lab, we have studied experienced practioners while they 
performed an advanced form of mindfulness meditation called open presence.  In 
open presence, sometimes called "pure awareness", the mind is calm and relaxed, 
not focused on anything in particular yet vividly clear, free from excitation 
or dullness.  The meditator observes and is open to experience without making 
any attempt to interpret, change, reject or ignore painful sensation"
 ...[the experimenters somehow induced some pain to experienced meditators, 
then compared the results to novices.]
 ."We found that the intensity o0f the pain was not reduced in meditators, but 
it bothered them less than it did members of a control group".
 .
 "Compared with novices, expert meditators' brain activity diminished in 
anxiety related regions - the insular cortex and the amygdala - in the period 
preceding the painful stimulus."
 .
 "Other tests in our lab have shown that meditation training increases one's 
ability to better control and buffer basic physiological responses - 
inflammation or levels of a stress hormone - to a socially stressful task such 
as giving a public speech or doing mental arithmetic in front of a harsh jury."
 .
 ".

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

JR, 

 I don't think you get it. If you do your own research, you find out things, if 
you just accept what people tell you, you don't find the answers. Exactly what 
are the same questions Barry has been asking for years? He seems to have come 
to his own conclusions about many things. If you say to someone 'You've been 
told the answer', then accuse them of not accepting it, the reason for not 
accepting it is 1) they intend to research it further before coming to a 
conclusion or 2) they have researched it and found that what they were told was 
mistaken, or unprovable, or just nonsense. I think your brain is scrambled 
because to do your own research means you cannot first believe what someone 
tells you. You just use it as a spring board for an investigation, a starting 
point. What you are told is not the finish line. You are making the fatal 
assumption that when someone investigates what they are told they will come to 
the same conclusion as what they were told, and this is the Achilles heel of 
bad reasoning, that someone will always find what you think they should find.
 

 If I think something is correct, that does not mean that I am not mistaken. If 
you want to counter Barry's comments and arguments, you have to respond to them 
in a reasoned way that demonstrates you know what you are talking about. It is 
not clear that you do.
 

 When dealing with facts, the situation is a bit easier than dealing with 
abstractions like 'enlightenment' for which most information is not factual, 
for one is discussing something that literally cannot be described with any 
real precision. That might lead one to conclude it does not really exist. 
Suppose that were true? Suppose that 'good' and 'evil' do not really exist, but 
that those ideas were just something you were told and you bought into the 
ideas? How would you begin to research this, to find out if they did nor did 
not exist? How would you go about finding out if enlightenment exists? What are 
the requirements that would have to be satisfied for finding out if 
enlightenment exists? Have you found the answer yet? For if not, you would not 
know that it exists.
 

 In this thread Barry asked the following questions, and they do not seem to be 
questions he has asked for many years:
 

 'What's in the big pink box, man?' (a quotation from a movie)
 Now, JR, please tell me. Was that "good" or "evil?" (a question he asked you 
about the body count in the Iraq wars)
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Pastor Barry, 

 You've been asking the same questions for many years now.  You've been told 
the answer, but you don't listen.  You should do your own research and find out 
for yourself the true answer.



  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Italy court clears Knox and Sollecito

[rich...@rwilliams.us [FairfieldLife]]

 The lesson to be learned is that it's difficult to get justice in some parts 
of Europe. Over here in the USA we have the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of 
Rights. After spending 18 years as a military brat I swore to myself that if I 
ever got back to the U.S. I would never leave the country again again. Gawd!

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I hope Amanda Knox has learned a lesson in personal karma:  don't ever go back 
to Italy.  But she had to go through many heartaches and family expenditures 
for her defense to get over this part of her life.  So, life goes on. 

 
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Italy's top appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and 
Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher.
 The decision is the final ruling in the long-running case.
 The pair were found guilty in 2009, then freed in 2011 after the convictions 
were overturned. Their convictions were reinstated by another court last year.
 Ms Kercher was found dead in 2007 in a flat she shared with Ms Knox.
 The couple had always maintained their innocence and the decision by the Court 
of Cassation puts an end to their long legal battle.
 The reasoning behind the decision will be made public in 90 days.
 Ms Knox has said that she feels "tremendously relieved" after the verdict.
 "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of 
this ordeal," she said in a statement.
 Her family have said that they are "thrilled" with Friday's court decision.
 
 "We want to express our profound gratitude to all of those who have supported 
Amanda and our family," they said.
 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[rich...@rwilliams.us [FairfieldLife]]

 "As you sit in this light from week to week, you will transform and grow and 
develop. It washes away the samskaras, the past-life tendencies. It washes away 
the karmic tendencies from this life. If you can meditate on that light and 
allow it to pass through you - meditate meaning not so much necessarily to 
focus on, meditate meaning to let go to; you may start with a concentration, a 
focus on, but then you want to let go, to be absorbed, to let go, to let the 
light flow through you - this light will cause spiritual transformation. This 
is the highest octave spiritual light. Not the best, but the highest octave." - 
Rama, October 6, 1982

http://www.ramalila.net/RoadTripMind/rtm03.html 
http://www.ramalila.net/RoadTripMind/rtm03.html  
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Me, I consider myself fortunate that I have never even been tempted to follow 
the other-power path.

 From: "s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 2:01 AM
 Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
 
 
   Re "acceptance of Jesus as Savior immediately - then and there - wipes out 
all of one's "sins".":
 

 Have you ever glanced into the literature on Pure Land Buddhism? It 
differentiates between an *other-power* in the spiritual life, in which we 
respond to a source outside ourselves, and a *self-power*. Most Buddhist 
teachings rely on self-power - we have to work out our own salvation through 
meditation and right practice. 
 

 In Pure Land teachings (an other-directed form of Buddhism) Amida Buddha is 
seen as a saviour figure - the source of compassion. In some versions it is 
only necessary to repeat the Nembutsu once (yep - just the once) to be 
guaranteed a rebirth in the Pure Lands. Nirvana is then a short hop away.
 

 The Nembutsu - saying "Namu-amida-butsu" - means "Adoration for Amida Buddha." 
 

 This whole other-power attitude is uncannily close to the Christian approach 
we are used to. In fact, when I first heard of it I assumed the Japanese 
Buddhists must have been influenced by Christian missionaries to Japan. Not so 
- it arose independently. Doesn't that suggest it taps in to a common religious 
stream that makes a powerful appeal to some people?
 

 Which people? It's tempting at first (at least it was to me) to see those 
drawn to such a path as lazy sods not prepared to do the hard work of sitting 
for ten years in a cave gazing at a blank wall. But there's real insight also. 
Any self-power way inevitably activates our ego - our willfulness. The very 
thing we're trying to transcend. The other-power way (you'll notice the 
parallels to bhakti yoga teaching) gets you out of yourself from the get-go. 
Setting aside its caressingly reassuring theology, Pure Land maybe has a 
psychological truth to it that doubtless has proved effective to many people. 
And surely some Christians who have "confessed" Jesus have trod the same route. 
(Precious few no doubt!)
 

 Alan Watts wrote a lucid essay on the topic - "The Problem of Faith and Works 
in Buddhism".
 

 

 

 


 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I like your logic, Turq, and agree with it:  That's a prevalent problem with 
all fundamentalist religions and cultsas soon as one spells out "the truth" 
in a limited set of dogmatic statements; there are most often errors that crop 
up once the reader is boxed into such belief systems. ...
 Once boxed in, the flaws become more apparent and problematic over time; and 
this could take centuries.
 For example, let's take Fundamentalist (Evangelical) Christianity. and mention 
a few of the major premises:
 .
 1. You can only be "saved" as long as you accept Jesus as your Savior.  OK, 
this one sounds rather simplistic and easy to follow but it boxes the believer 
into concluding that if one does NOT accept Jesus as a Savior, there are 
dreaded consequences:  namely you are doomed to Hell forever  This goes for 
humanitarians and philanthropists who have helped countless people.  Such good 
behavior means nothing insofar as evading Hell. (so they say).
 .
 On the other hand, the worst criminal supposedly can get into Heaven if in the 
last few minutes of his life, accepts Jesus as Savior.
 .
 There's no way I can disprove such claims, but on the surface, such beliefs 
appear to be illogical and counterintuitive, at least to me
 .
 Another dogmatic assertion by both Evangelicals and Catholics is that of 
Atonement: that acceptance of Jesus as Savior immediately - then and there - 
wipes out all of one's "sins".  Again, this can't be falsified, but I'd say it 
defies logic and doesn't match reality.  Even if it did wipe out "sins" 
(whatever that implies); it certainly doesn't wipe out the conquences of bad 
karma.  That will probably follow you wherever you go, until it's somehow 
eradicated or worked off. .
 s.




  

 


 











  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Italy court clears Knox and Sollecito

[jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

I hope Amanda Knox has learned a lesson in personal karma:  don't ever go back 
to Italy.  But she had to go through many heartaches and family expenditures 
for her defense to get over this part of her life.  So, life goes on. 

 
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Italy's top appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and 
Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher.
 The decision is the final ruling in the long-running case.
 The pair were found guilty in 2009, then freed in 2011 after the convictions 
were overturned. Their convictions were reinstated by another court last year.
 Ms Kercher was found dead in 2007 in a flat she shared with Ms Knox.
 The couple had always maintained their innocence and the decision by the Court 
of Cassation puts an end to their long legal battle.
 The reasoning behind the decision will be made public in 90 days.
 Ms Knox has said that she feels "tremendously relieved" after the verdict.
 "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of 
this ordeal," she said in a statement.
 Her family have said that they are "thrilled" with Friday's court decision.
 
 "We want to express our profound gratitude to all of those who have supported 
Amanda and our family," they said.
 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[rich...@rwilliams.us [FairfieldLife]]

 You want proof of the last incarnation of Vishnu?

"Over the years, I saw him levitate, as in sitting in lotus and just lifting up 
off the chair and hovering there in midair for minutes at a time, sometimes 
telling a joke the whole time.  Or in the desert, he'd just step up off the 
sand and onto a "staircase" that wasn't there, and just climb up and down it 
for a while, several feet above the ground." - TurquoiseB

http://www.mail-archive.com/fairfieldlife%40yahoogroups.com/msg12287.html 
http://www.mail-archive.com/fairfieldlife%40yahoogroups.com/msg12287.html  


---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Pastor Barry, 

 You've been asking the same questions for many years now.  You've been told 
the answer, but you don't listen.  You should do your own research and find out 
for yourself the true answer.
 

 
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of many 
religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I have 
noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

 

 When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
 

 The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on 
the question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
 

 I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
 

 Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

 

 As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)

 From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:08 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
 
 
   Establishing the historicity of various religious characters today is pretty 
much impossible. Of the following, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, 
Shankara, only the latter two have much evidence that would just suggest they 
existed, primarily because they are a bit more recent. It seems more logical 
with the lack of definite evidence that these names can be used as 'bookmarks' 
that delineate a certain point in the development of a tradition, a 
personification of what had  transpired up to that point. If we were to take 
the TMO holy tradition, only Shankara, Brahmanda Saraswati, Maharishi, and King 
Tony have a believable amount of evidence, and only the last three have really 
good historical evidence as to their existence. If we assume enlightenment 
exists, we could say that the 'tradition' of enlightenment is something 
generated in one's own mind as a means to remove the delusion that there is 
something called enlightenment that one can gain.
 

 Barry, I read your post with the cartoon about the cat. It was heartbreaking 
for a friend of mine to look in the box, because it was her cat. She probably 
should not have opened it. In a way enlightenment is kind of parallel to this. 
You are looking for something you already have, and as long as you keep 
looking, you never find it. When you stop looking, truly stop looking, then you 
discover your search was in vain. What a relief!
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I am asking you to explain to us how ANYONE could possibly "research" such a 
question as the historical existence of Krishna and come up with an accurate 
answer. You seem to base a lot of your beliefs on "Maharishisez," meaning that 
*he* said something that you consider fact. What I am asking you to do is 
explain to us HOW he 

[FairfieldLife] Post Count Sat 28-Mar-15 00:15:09 UTC

[FFL PostCount ffl.postco...@gmail.com [FairfieldLife]]

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[FairfieldLife] "Mind of the Meditator"

[yifux...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

[Scientific American article by Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J. 
Davidson, Nov. 2014, p. 43]
 

 "In our Wisconsin lab, we have studied experienced practioners while they 
performed an advanced form of mindfulness meditation called open presence.  In 
open presence, sometimes called "pure awareness", the mind is calm and relaxed, 
not focused on anything in particular yet vividly clear, free from excitation 
or dullness.  The meditator observes and is open to experience without making 
any attempt to interpret, change, reject or ignore painful sensation"
 ...[the experimenters somehow induced some pain to experienced meditators, 
then compared the results to novices.]
 ."We found that the intensity o0f the pain was not reduced in meditators, but 
it bothered them less than it did members of a control group".
 .
 "Compared with novices, expert meditators' brain activity diminished in 
anxiety related regions - the insular cortex and the amygdala - in the period 
preceding the painful stimulus."
 .
 "Other tests in our lab have shown that meditation training increases one's 
ability to better control and buffer basic physiological responses - 
inflammation or levels of a stress hormone - to a socially stressful task such 
as giving a public speech or doing mental arithmetic in front of a harsh jury."
 .
 ".

[FairfieldLife] Italy court clears Knox and Sollecito

[s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Italy's top appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and 
Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher.
 The decision is the final ruling in the long-running case.
 The pair were found guilty in 2009, then freed in 2011 after the convictions 
were overturned. Their convictions were reinstated by another court last year.
 Ms Kercher was found dead in 2007 in a flat she shared with Ms Knox.
 The couple had always maintained their innocence and the decision by the Court 
of Cassation puts an end to their long legal battle.
 The reasoning behind the decision will be made public in 90 days.
 Ms Knox has said that she feels "tremendously relieved" after the verdict.
 "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of 
this ordeal," she said in a statement.
 Her family have said that they are "thrilled" with Friday's court decision.
 
 "We want to express our profound gratitude to all of those who have supported 
Amanda and our family," they said.
 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net [FairfieldLife]]

On 03/27/2015 01:43 PM, jason_gre...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote:




Actually, this is an old issue. Remember Standard Oil which
was broken into 6 companies.  Artifically big banks can be
broken into manageable units.



Mergers and acquisitions are a craze in the business community.  When 
our company went public we were "encouraged" to buy some smaller 
companies.  Big mistake as we were having problems managing our company 
as it was.  Then there was the "blues" of the people who worked in the 
smaller company who didn't want the owner to sell out and liked working 
there as it was.


IBM tends to spin off successful units as they did with Lexmark and 
Lenovo.  That probably was because of an anti-trust suit against them 
years ago.


When you merge a company duplicate positions in the acquired company get 
laid off.  So it creates more unemployment.


The big banks are out of control and malicious.  Try arguing with their 
case workers as I did for a mistake *they* made.




Kerala at one stage had become so moribund, even rice had to
be imported from neighboring provinces. Only after the
unruly unions were reined in, things began to get better
again.



When was this?  I was there in 1996.



Indians in US send no shit home. Remitances from the
middle-east give kerala a financial flexibility.



Really?  I know Indians that send money home.



I think I told you a hundred times that the political
funding issue needs to be sorted out first.  First things
first.



You can tell me all you want but I won't buy what you're selling. :-D



It was the East India company that wrecked india from 1757
to 1857. The british govt took over in 1857, but it was too
late.



East India Company was a British company.  The same one our founding 
fathers rebelled against.





---  wrote :

You so don't understand.  I'm not advocating socialism just condemning 
lassiez-faire capitalism or "capitalists gone wild!" Surely you don't 
think that "too big to fail" banks are a good thing, do you?  Or have 
you been brainwashed by some business school bullshit, perhaps MUM 
economics?


And what did you think of Kerala when you were there? :-D

BTW, lots of Indians works all over the world and send money back 
home.  India was under foreign domination for centuries and when they 
got the country back the fascists took over. They're still trying to 
sort that out.  The country is too big and needs to be more state thus 
regionally focused.  It's still run by oligarchs.



On 03/27/2015 12:08 PM, jason_green2@...  
[FairfieldLife] wrote:

Hide message history






On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@...  
[FairfieldLife] wrote:



'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a
number of reasons.


---   wrote :

Where? Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the
cleanest and most organized of the places I visited in India. 
And private business was even thriving.


More than 2 million people from kerala work in the
middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps
kerala going right now.

Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated
housing development, finance and agriculture. Private
business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many
entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment.
These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party.



It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the
individual and the collective. First of all, a distinction
should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential
goods'.


---   wrote :

That outlook is simplistic and childish.  And apparently the
viewpoint of an "armchair capitalist." ;-)

I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of
quotes, mostly PR from people who concerned about their public
image.  If you don't trade in stocks how can you really
experience what capitalism is about?  Maybe you should read Marx
as capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you need
to read his works.

I was involved in taking a private company public.  There's the
old saw "private companies work for dollars and public companies
work for quarters."  Nothing could be more true.  As a private
company we were focused on making products people wanted to buy.
Once public we were focused on meeting the expectations of Wall
Street.  Even as a public company we should have kept the focus
on good products rather than release dates but try to convince
investment bankers of that.

There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on
YouTube.   When the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was
thrown open to the public deciding what form of government they
wanted.  The most popular was anarchy. No body owns anything and
scripts are used for trade.  The ri

[FairfieldLife] EXCELLENT MAHARISHI QUOTE

[email4you mikemail4...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

 
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|     The Best is just good enough.   
   |

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|Stationery, a Yahoo Mail and Paperless Post collaboration|

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Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Pastor Barry, 

 You've been asking the same questions for many years now.  You've been told 
the answer, but you don't listen.  You should do your own research and find out 
for yourself the true answer.
 

 
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of many 
religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I have 
noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

 

 When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
 

 The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on 
the question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
 

 I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
 

 Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

 

 As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)

 From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:08 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
 
 
   Establishing the historicity of various religious characters today is pretty 
much impossible. Of the following, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, 
Shankara, only the latter two have much evidence that would just suggest they 
existed, primarily because they are a bit more recent. It seems more logical 
with the lack of definite evidence that these names can be used as 'bookmarks' 
that delineate a certain point in the development of a tradition, a 
personification of what had  transpired up to that point. If we were to take 
the TMO holy tradition, only Shankara, Brahmanda Saraswati, Maharishi, and King 
Tony have a believable amount of evidence, and only the last three have really 
good historical evidence as to their existence. If we assume enlightenment 
exists, we could say that the 'tradition' of enlightenment is something 
generated in one's own mind as a means to remove the delusion that there is 
something called enlightenment that one can gain.
 

 Barry, I read your post with the cartoon about the cat. It was heartbreaking 
for a friend of mine to look in the box, because it was her cat. She probably 
should not have opened it. In a way enlightenment is kind of parallel to this. 
You are looking for something you already have, and as long as you keep 
looking, you never find it. When you stop looking, truly stop looking, then you 
discover your search was in vain. What a relief!
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I am asking you to explain to us how ANYONE could possibly "research" such a 
question as the historical existence of Krishna and come up with an accurate 
answer. You seem to base a lot of your beliefs on "Maharishisez," meaning that 
*he* said something that you consider fact. What I am asking you to do is 
explain to us HOW he (or anyone else) could *possibly* determine that "Krishna" 
actually existed sufficiently that you would believe it to be fact. 

 

 Don't be coy. You obviously believe this stuff. Now explain to us how you 
think it works. 


 From: "jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 4:34 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
 
 
   Pastor Barry,
 

 I said below that I did NOT research the matter personally.
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 John, we've all seen you post things on this forum that leave no doubt that 
you believe that 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[jason_gre...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Actually, this is an old issue. Remember Standard Oil which 
was broken into 6 companies.  Artifically big banks can be 
broken into manageable units.

Kerala at one stage had become so moribund, even rice had to 
be imported from neighboring provinces. Only after the 
unruly unions were reined in, things began to get better 
again.

Indians in US send no shit home. Remitances from the 
middle-east give kerala a financial flexibility.

I think I told you a hundred times that the political 
funding issue needs to be sorted out first.  First things 
first.

It was the East India company that wrecked india from 1757 
to 1857. The british govt took over in 1857, but it was too 
late.


---  wrote :

 You so don't understand.  I'm not advocating socialism just condemning 
lassiez-faire capitalism or "capitalists gone wild!" Surely you don't think 
that "too big to fail" banks are a good thing, do you?  Or have you been 
brainwashed by some business school bullshit, perhaps MUM economics?
 
 And what did you think of Kerala when you were there? :-D 
 
 BTW, lots of Indians works all over the world and send money back home.  India 
was under foreign domination for centuries and when they got the country back 
the fascists took over.  They're still trying to sort that out.  The country is 
too big and needs to be more state thus regionally focused.  It's still run by 
oligarchs.

 
 On 03/27/2015 12:08 PM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... 
[FairfieldLife] wrote:

 Hide message history
 

 
 
 
 On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... 
[FairfieldLife] wrote:
 

   'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a 
 number of reasons.
 

 
 ---  mailto:noozguru@... wrote :
 
 Where?  Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the cleanest and 
most organized of the places I visited in India.  And private business was even 
thriving.
 
 More than 2 million people from kerala work in the 
 middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps 
 kerala going right now.
 
 Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated 
 housing development, finance and agriculture.  Private 
 business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many   
 entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment.
 These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party.
 
 
 It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the 
 individual and the collective.  First of all, a distinction 
 should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential 
 goods'.



 
 ---  mailto:noozguru@... wrote :
 
 That outlook is simplistic and childish.  And apparently the viewpoint of an 
"armchair capitalist." ;-) 
 
 I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of quotes, mostly PR 
from people who concerned about their public image.  If you don't trade in 
stocks how can you really experience what capitalism is about?  Maybe you 
should read Marx as capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you 
need to read his works.
 
 I was involved in taking a private company public.  There's the old saw 
"private companies work for dollars and public companies work for quarters."  
Nothing could be more true.  As a private company we were focused on making 
products people wanted to buy.  Once public we were focused on meeting the 
expectations of Wall Street.  Even as a public company we should have kept the 
focus on good products rather than release dates but try to convince investment 
bankers of that.
 
 There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on YouTube.   When 
the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was thrown open to the public 
deciding what form of government they wanted.  The most popular was anarchy.  
No body owns anything and scripts are used for trade.  The rich property owners 
didn't want that so they were trying to overthrow it and succeeded in the 
horrific fascist government of Franco.   Is that what you want?  The US is 
headed that way.
 
 There is nothing to prevent the local community from using 
 scrip stamps for trade.
 
 
 
 Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon 
 cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves 
 that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state 
 capitalism'.
 



 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group
 
 The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to 
 compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side 
 by side, even do business with each other, proves that there 
 is space for both approaches.
 
 Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state 
 capitalism.
 



 
 ---  mailto:noozguru@... wrote :
 
 We have employee run companies here in the SF Bay Area.  Rainbow Bread is one 
of them.  They als

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net [FairfieldLife]]

You so don't understand.  I'm not advocating socialism just condemning 
lassiez-faire capitalism or "capitalists gone wild!" Surely you don't 
think that "too big to fail" banks are a good thing, do you?  Or have 
you been brainwashed by some business school bullshit, perhaps MUM 
economics?


And what did you think of Kerala when you were there? :-D

BTW, lots of Indians works all over the world and send money back home.  
India was under foreign domination for centuries and when they got the 
country back the fascists took over.  They're still trying to sort that 
out.  The country is too big and needs to be more state thus regionally 
focused.  It's still run by oligarchs.


On 03/27/2015 12:08 PM, jason_gre...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote:






On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@...  
[FairfieldLife] wrote:



'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a
number of reasons.


---  wrote :

Where?  Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the
cleanest and most organized of the places I visited in India.  And
private business was even thriving.

More than 2 million people from kerala work in the
middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps
kerala going right now.

Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated
housing development, finance and agriculture. Private
business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many
entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment.
These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party.



It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the
individual and the collective.  First of all, a distinction
should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential
goods'.


---  wrote :

That outlook is simplistic and childish.  And apparently the
viewpoint of an "armchair capitalist." ;-)

I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of
quotes, mostly PR from people who concerned about their public
image.  If you don't trade in stocks how can you really experience
what capitalism is about?  Maybe you should read Marx as
capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you need to
read his works.

I was involved in taking a private company public.  There's the
old saw "private companies work for dollars and public companies
work for quarters."  Nothing could be more true.  As a private
company we were focused on making products people wanted to buy.
Once public we were focused on meeting the expectations of Wall
Street.  Even as a public company we should have kept the focus on
good products rather than release dates but try to convince
investment bankers of that.

There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on
YouTube.   When the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was
thrown open to the public deciding what form of government they
wanted.  The most popular was anarchy.  No body owns anything and
scripts are used for trade.  The rich property owners didn't want
that so they were trying to overthrow it and succeeded in the
horrific fascist government of Franco.   Is that what you want?
The US is headed that way.

There is nothing to prevent the local community from using
scrip stamps for trade.




Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon
cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves
that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state
capitalism'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group

The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to
compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side
by side, even do business with each other, proves that there
is space for both approaches.

Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state
capitalism.


---  wrote :

We have employee run companies here in the SF Bay Area.  Rainbow
Bread is one of them.  They also make a good product.  Coops were
very popular in the 1960s and 1970s.  My sister was the
comptroller for one of the Bay Area ones.  Seattle has a grocery
co-op I was a member of.  It was a good place to get natural and
organic food.  Beat the hell out of "Whole Foods".

Thing is laissez-faire capitalism has run amok, created too much
inequality and as such I think could be a pendulum swing the other
direction to extreme socialism which is not a good solution
either.  But none the less the punishment for those who abused the
privilege of a capitalist economy.

Once you sort out the political funding issue, you can start
dealing with this issue. Parties need funds to function and
it's better if the State gives them. The idea of business
capital funding parties, goes a

[FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[jason_gre...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

 


 On 03/26/2015 03:07 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... 
[FairfieldLife] wrote:


   'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a 
 number of reasons.
 

 
---  wrote :

 Where?  Kerala has a "communist" government and yet it was the cleanest and 
most organized of the places I visited in India.  And private business was even 
thriving.

More than 2 million people from kerala work in the 
middle-east, and they send remittances home. That keeps 
kerala going right now.

Besides, it was the cooperative entities that facilitated 
housing development, finance and agriculture.  Private 
business have lot of difficulties in Kerala. Many   
entrepreneurs moved out citing difficult environment.
These 'communists' are every bit corrupt as any other party.

 
 It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the 
 individual and the collective.  First of all, a distinction 
 should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential 
 goods'.



 
---  wrote :

 That outlook is simplistic and childish.  And apparently the viewpoint of an 
"armchair capitalist." ;-) 
 
 I asked if you owned any stocks and instead I got a bunch of quotes, mostly PR 
from people who concerned about their public image.  If you don't trade in 
stocks how can you really experience what capitalism is about?  Maybe you 
should read Marx as capitalists say if you want to understand capitalism you 
need to read his works.
 
 I was involved in taking a private company public.  There's the old saw 
"private companies work for dollars and public companies work for quarters."  
Nothing could be more true.  As a private company we were focused on making 
products people wanted to buy.  Once public we were focused on meeting the 
expectations of Wall Street.  Even as a public company we should have kept the 
focus on good products rather than release dates but try to convince investment 
bankers of that.
 
 There's a six part BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War on YouTube.   When 
the monarchy rescinded their rule the country was thrown open to the public 
deciding what form of government they wanted.  The most popular was anarchy.  
No body owns anything and scripts are used for trade.  The rich property owners 
didn't want that so they were trying to overthrow it and succeeded in the 
horrific fascist government of Franco.   Is that what you want?  The US is 
headed that way.
 
There is nothing to prevent the local community from using 
scrip stamps for trade.


 
 Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon 
 cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves 
 that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state 
 capitalism'.
 



 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group
 
 The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to 
 compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side 
 by side, even do business with each other, proves that there 
 is space for both approaches.
 
 Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state 
 capitalism.
 



 
---  wrote :

 We have employee run companies here in the SF Bay Area.  Rainbow Bread is one 
of them.  They also make a good product.  Coops were very popular in the 1960s 
and 1970s.  My sister was the comptroller for one of the Bay Area ones.  
Seattle has a grocery co-op I was a member of.  It was a good place to get 
natural and organic food.  Beat the hell out of "Whole Foods".
 
 Thing is laissez-faire capitalism has run amok, created too much inequality 
and as such I think could be a pendulum swing the other direction to extreme 
socialism which is not a good solution either.  But none the less the 
punishment for those who abused the privilege of a capitalist economy.

Once you sort out the political funding issue, you can start 
dealing with this issue. Parties need funds to function and 
it's better if the State gives them. The idea of business 
capital funding parties, goes against the spirit of 
democracy.

Corporate entities don't vote. They should not be allowed to 
donate more than 5% of their profits to parties.




---  mailto:noozguru@... wrote :
 
 "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried."  "What some 
people think are communist countries are family businesses.  North Korea as an 
example."
 
 
 On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... 
[FairfieldLife] wrote:
 
 Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 
 'making money'.  Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. 
 Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few.
 
 "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of 
 ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the 
 equal sharing of misery"  ~ Winston Churchill 
 
 "Under communism, there is 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Religious scriptures can contain some mention of facts, but usually they seem 
to be on the order of say the mention of the Kennedy assassination in the 
Illuminatus! triology of Shea & Wilson, where there is quite a lot of mention 
of historical people in an otherwise unbelievable story. There is more 
historical information available for Pontius Pilate than for Jesus. JR's view 
of the world does not seem to rest much on factual data, and seems to lack an 
underpinning of basic logic. Religious scriptures and apologetics basically 
just want to convince you of something, and there is nothing I see wrong in 
that, but buyer beware. Our societies tend not to give us the tools to think 
critically. The Netherlands has been a place where free thinking has had a 
better hold than in most, but I am ignorant of how well that is holding up 
currently. 

 I don't remember the pink box in Buckaroo Banzai, but it has been years and 
years since I saw that film. One year, probably in the min-1980s, I was talking 
to my sister on the phone. She was travelling and in a motel or hotel 
somewhere, and she said 'I am watching the strangest movie I have ever seen'; 
after a few questions I was able determine she was watching Buckaroo Banzai. 
You had to have lived in the late 40s and early 50s to get some of the things 
in that film, such as the relationship of comic books to characters actors 
played in films and on TV, especially because some of the actors played 
themselves in the films, like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry etc.
 

 I had been watching a laid back modern-day western on Netflix that was 
cancelled by AMC: Longmire. Peter Weller had been in it occasionally and 
directing some episodes. Netflix has picked it up to produce an additional 
season, so perhaps Weller will get to direct some more episodes.
 

 Still snow on the ground here. Went to a Connecticut mall this morning to walk 
around as the trails here are muck for a while as the snow and ice melt away. 
Usually I make my own coffee, but I had some at Starbucks, which is about the 
only thing around here. There is one good small non-Starbucks coffee shop I am 
aware of, but it is normally too far to drive (57km round trip).
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of many 
religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I have 
noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

 

 When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
 

 The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on 
the question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
 

 I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
 

 Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

 

 As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)

[FairfieldLife] Creeping Fascism in the US?

[Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net [FairfieldLife]]

But you don't need to believe in FEMA death domes or an Islamofascist 
White House to find Jade Helm a little bit unsettling—even if it just a 
routine exercise meant to simulate a future Middle Eastern war zone 
inside America.

http://gawker.com/jade-helm-the-pretend-invasion-of-texas-thats-driving-1693863561

[FairfieldLife] Willie starts his weed biz

[Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net [FairfieldLife]]

No, not WillyTex but Willie Nelson.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/willie-nelson-is-launching-his-own-brand-of-weed.html

Put that in your chillum and smoke it.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Best photo I've seen of the recent eclipse

[salyavin808]

 That didn't come out for some reason. Was it this one? I'd be most pleased 
with it anyway...
 

 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Living Communally: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[Michael Jackson mjackso...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

I still want to know why MUM didn't take an official and public stance against 
the Heartland Coop. You would think with all the bragging they do about their 
sustainable living program and their focus on organic this and that, and clean 
living they would have opposed the deal.
My bet is the coop owners gave a nice fat bribe to the school, quietly of 
course. I wish some reporter would go ask 'em about it.

  From: "dhamiltony...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 10:28 AM
 Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Living Communally: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
   
    Thanks, co-ops sound very ideal towards a sharing. Though sounds further in 
time alot like any organizations where things starts off with a membershipwith 
one-person-one-vote then you get an administrative boardelected. And it becomes 
an oligarchy of sorts. 
Like what happened with the New Pioneer Food Coop in Iowa City. Now a few 
high-paid administrator/store-managers working at the board level overthe 
membership, high priced food, and a lot of lowly-paidworking-poor employees to 
pay for the administrator managers. 
Same thing for this Heartland 'Cooperative' that just built thismassive 
multi-million dollar facility for the simple business of unloading 
andre-loading grain on to a monopoly-owned rail-line here with slim chance 
ofpay-back. Small group of manager-class running it. Pretty evidentlya project 
that an administrative-team put together for itself asidefrom the membership 
understanding the economics of it so far aspay-back. The membership proly would 
have been better off with thatcapital returned in dividend. But of course there 
is no job in thatfor the manager-class. 
Seems co-ops often just go the route of corporations anyway. ..Good for a few 
people at the top once it gets going. Sort of likethe Standing Committee over 
communist China.   Or, the TM movementnow.
-Buck, a meditator member in a meditating community in Fairfield, Iowa



---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

Buck, you will getter a good understanding from this link 
below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative

In a cooperative entity, you have only one vote no matter 
how many shares you own. This is one essential difference 
form corporate entity.  Their goal is minimal profits. 
Though, there are some cooperative entities that are 
non-profit and yet do business.


---  wrote :

Thanks, really interesting thoughtful posts.

These are secular cooperatives you mention? Where people live together 
communally?
Shared-goods other than just the business? Housing? Meals? Health 
Insurance/care? The aged? Non-spiritual? 
What keeps them together other than their business model?



---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :


'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a 
number of reasons.

It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the 
individual and the collective.  First of all, a distinction 
should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential 
goods'.  

Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon 
cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves 
that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state 
capitalism'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group

The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to 
compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side 
by side, even do business with each other, proves that there 
is space for both approaches.

Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state 
capitalism.


---  wrote :

"Communism is an interesting idea thathas never been tried."  "What some people 
think are communistcountries are family businesses.  North Korea as an example."


On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... [FairfieldLife]wrote:

Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and
'making money'.  Pro-market capitalism generateswealth. 
Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of 
ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue isthe 
equal sharing of misery"  ~ Winston Churchill 

"Under communism, there is no incentive to supplypeople 
with anything they need or want, including safety."
 ~ GeorgeReisman, (Capitalism : A Treatise on Economics 
 1996).

"The trouble is with socialism, which resembles a formof 
mental illness more than it does a philosophy.Socialists 
get bees in their bonnets. And because theychronically lack 
any critical faculty to examine and evaluate theirideas, 
and because they are pathologically unwilling toconsider 
the opinions of others, and most of all, becausesocialism 
is a mindset that regards the individual -- and hisrights 
-- as insignificant, compared to whatever thesocialist 
believes the group needs, terrible, terrible thingshappen 
when socialists acquire power."
~ L. Neil Smith, "Cam

[FairfieldLife] Re: Living Communally: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[dhamiltony...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Thanks, co-ops sound very ideal towards a sharing. Though sounds further in 
time a lot like any organizations where things starts off with a membership 
with one-person-one-vote then you get an administrative board elected. And it 
becomes an oligarchy of sorts. 
 

 Like what happened with the New Pioneer Food Coop in Iowa City. Now a few 
high-paid administrator/store-managers working at the board level over the 
membership, high priced food, and a lot of lowly-paid working-poor employees to 
pay for the administrator managers. 
 

 Same thing for this Heartland 'Cooperative' that just built this massive 
multi-million dollar facility for the simple business of unloading and 
re-loading grain on to a monopoly-owned rail-line here with slim chance of 
pay-back. Small group of manager-class running it. Pretty evidently a project 
that an administrative-team put together for itself aside from the membership 
understanding the economics of it so far as pay-back. The membership proly 
would have been better off with that capital returned in dividend. But of 
course there is no job in that for the manager-class. 
 

 Seems co-ops often just go the route of corporations anyway. ..Good for a few 
people at the top once it gets going. Sort of like the Standing Committee over 
communist China.   Or, the TM movement now.
 

 -Buck, a meditator member in a meditating community in Fairfield, Iowa
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Buck, you will getter a good understanding from this link 
below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative

In a cooperative entity, you have only one vote no matter 
how many shares you own. This is one essential difference 
form corporate entity.  Their goal is minimal profits. 
Though, there are some cooperative entities that are 
non-profit and yet do business.


---  wrote :

Thanks, really interesting thoughtful posts.

These are secular cooperatives you mention? Where people live together 
communally?
Shared-goods other than just the business? Housing? Meals? Health 
Insurance/care? The aged? Non-spiritual? 
What keeps them together other than their business model?

 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 
'State Communism' was tried and it failed miserably for a 
number of reasons.

It was too simplistic and childish.  No balance between the 
individual and the collective.  First of all, a distinction 
should be made between 'essential goods' and 'non-essential 
goods'.  

Secondly, the success of cooperative entities like Mondragon 
cooperative in Spain and Amul cooperative in india proves 
that 'non-state socialism' is as effective as 'non-state 
capitalism'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Group

The fact that these 'cooperative entities' are able to 
compete with 'corporate entities', and exist with them side 
by side, even do business with each other, proves that there 
is space for both approaches.

Non-state socialism can exist along with non-state 
capitalism.


---  wrote :

 "Communism is an interesting idea that has never been tried."  "What some 
people think are communist countries are family businesses.  North Korea as an 
example."
 

 On 03/25/2015 04:45 AM, jason_green2@... mailto:jason_green2@... 
[FairfieldLife] wrote:

Maintain a distinction between 'generating wealth' and 
 'making money'.  Pro-market capitalism generates wealth. 
 Pro-business capitalism only makes money for a few.
 
 "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of 
 ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the 
 equal sharing of misery"  ~ Winston Churchill 
 
 "Under communism, there is no incentive to supply people 
 with anything they need or want, including safety."
  ~ George Reisman, (Capitalism : A Treatise on Economics 
  1996).
 
 "The trouble is with socialism, which resembles a form of 
 mental illness more than it does a philosophy. Socialists 
 get bees in their bonnets. And because they chronically lack 
 any critical faculty to examine and evaluate their ideas, 
 and because they are pathologically unwilling to consider 
 the opinions of others, and most of all, because socialism 
 is a mindset that regards the individual -- and his rights 
 -- as insignificant, compared to whatever the socialist 
 believes the group needs, terrible, terrible things happen 
 when socialists acquire power."
 ~ L. Neil Smith,  "Cambodian Road Trip", 15 March 2009)
 
 "Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never 
 as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that 
 was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both."
 ~ John F. Kennedy, (Speech at NATO Headquarters, Naples 
 Italy, 2 July 1963)
 
 "Socialism...must have a dictatorship, it will not

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Interesting rap, s3raphita. I think it's a valid description of two spiritual 
paths we find on planet Earth -- self-powered vs. outer-powered. Me, I consider 
myself fortunate that I have never even been tempted to follow the other-power 
path. It just never did anything for me, in any form in which I ever 
encountered it. And even when I found myself sharing spiritual paths with those 
of the bhakti/devotional/other-power bent (for example, those who got all 
bhakti-d out over Maharishi or Rama), I was never tempted to focus on those 
teachers as savior-figures of any kind. 

The closest I ever got was along the lines of a metaphor that Rama used. Yes, 
he considered himself enlightened. Occasionally he got downright 
narcissistically crazy behind it. :-) But other times he seemed to have genuine 
insights, such as the time he described the task of the student as NOT being 
the ability to focus ON a teacher (via devotion or bhakti). That, in his view, 
just kept the student in a constant state of duality -- there is the teacher 
and then there is me, and never the twain shall meet. 

In his good moments, he preferred to describe the teacher-student relationship 
he hoped to embody as him being a kind of doorway or viewer, through which it 
is easier to catch glimpses of the infinite. You don't focus ON the teacher but 
THROUGH them, to infinity. That's your real teacher, not the human person in 
front of you. (I won't include the whole Rama rap from the desert here, but if 
you're interested I taped it and used it as the basis of a story.) 

Anyway, that resonated with me, because that's how I always approached the 
teachers I worked with. They really weren't the point. Infinity was the point.  

  From: "s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 2:01 AM
 Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    Re "acceptance of Jesus as Savior immediately - then and there - wipes out 
all of one's "sins".":
Have you ever glanced into the literature on Pure Land Buddhism? It 
differentiates between an *other-power* in the spiritual life, in which we 
respond to a source outside ourselves, and a *self-power*. Most Buddhist 
teachings rely on self-power - we have to work out our own salvation through 
meditation and right practice. 
In Pure Land teachings (an other-directed form of Buddhism) Amida Buddha is 
seen as a saviour figure - the source of compassion. In some versions it is 
only necessary to repeat the Nembutsu once (yep - just the once) to be 
guaranteed a rebirth in the Pure Lands. Nirvana is then a short hop away.
The Nembutsu - saying "Namu-amida-butsu" - means "Adoration for Amida Buddha." 
This whole other-power attitude is uncannily close to the Christian approach we 
are used to. In fact, when I first heard of it I assumed the Japanese Buddhists 
must have been influenced by Christian missionaries to Japan. Not so - it arose 
independently. Doesn't that suggest it taps in to a common religious stream 
that makes a powerful appeal to some people?
Which people? It's tempting at first (at least it was to me) to see those drawn 
to such a path as lazy sods not prepared to do the hard work of sitting for ten 
years in a cave gazing at a blank wall. But there's real insight also. Any 
self-power way inevitably activates our ego - our willfulness. The very thing 
we're trying to transcend. The other-power way (you'll notice the parallels to 
bhakti yoga teaching) gets you out of yourself from the get-go. Setting aside 
its caressingly reassuring theology, Pure Land maybe has a psychological truth 
to it that doubtless has proved effective to many people. And surely some 
Christians who have "confessed" Jesus have trod the same route. (Precious few 
no doubt!)
Alan Watts wrote a lucid essay on the topic - "The Problem of Faith and Works 
in Buddhism".






---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

I like your logic, Turq, and agree with it:  That's a prevalent problem with 
all fundamentalist religions and cultsas soon as one spells out "the truth" 
in a limited set of dogmatic statements; there are most often errors that crop 
up once the reader is boxed into such belief systemsOnce boxed in, the 
flaws become more apparent and problematic over time; and this could take 
centuries.For example, let's take Fundamentalist (Evangelical) Christianity. 
and mention a few of the major premises:.1. You can only be "saved" as long as 
you accept Jesus as your Savior.  OK, this one sounds rather simplistic and 
easy to follow but it boxes the believer into concluding that if one does NOT 
accept Jesus as a Savior, there are dreaded consequences:  namely you are 
doomed to Hell forever  This goes for humanitarians and philanthropists who 
have helped countless people.  Such good behavior means nothing insofar as 
evading Hell. (so they say)..On the other hand, the worst criminal supposedly 
can get into Heaven if in the last 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

I've always found that interesting, too, Michael. Compared to many of the great 
mythologies of the world, the mythic tales from India are remarkably soap 
opera-y and low-vibe. 

I mean, we're supposed to believe that gods are so petty that they kill each 
other over shit like their snuggle-bunny sleeping with another god? That's the 
kind of behavior I'd expect from my neighbors in New Mexico, not in Brahmaloka. 
 :-)
  From: "Michael Jackson mjackso...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com"  
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 2:15 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    One of the things I find interesting and amusing is the tales of the gods 
and goddesses in India, not to mention the tale of the enlightened sages all 
ascribe very human emotions like anger, jealousy, fear, suspicion, desire for 
revenge etc. to beings that in the case of the gods are supposed to be divine, 
and in the case of the rishis are supposed to be one with the divine. 

If these tales are true it means that the divine is screwed up and we in our 
current state with all its human foibles are the best divinity can manifest or 
it means the humans in our hubris just create the gods to be like us. 
 

 From: "TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com"  
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 4:17 AM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of 
many religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I 
have noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on the 
question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)
 

 From: "anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:08 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    Establishing the historicity of various religious characters today is 
pretty much impossible. Of the following, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, 
Mohammed, Shankara, only the latter two have much evidence that would just 
suggest they existed, primarily because they are a bit more recent. It seems 
more logical with the lack of definite evidence that these names can be used as 
'bookmarks' that delineate a certain point in the development of a tradition, a 
personification of what had  transpired up to that point. If we were to take 
the TMO holy tradition, only Shankara, Brahmanda Saraswati, Maharishi, and King 
Tony have a believable amount of evidence, and only the last three have really 
good historical evidence as to their existence. If we assume enlightenment 
exists, we could say that the 'tradition' of enlightenment is something 
generated in one's own mind as a means to remove the delusion that there is 
something called enlightenment that one can gain.
Barry, I read your post with the cartoon about the cat. It was heartbreaking 
for a friend of mine to look in the box, because it was her cat. She probably 
should not have opened it. In a way enlightenment is kind of parallel to this. 
You are looking for something

[FairfieldLife] What a strange world we live in

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

It struck me this morning, reading the latest news about the recent airplane 
crash in the French Alps, that flyers who already dreaded getting on a plane 
because they were afraid of terrorists now have to be afraid of their pilots 
and copilots as well. It's like we've all become Woody Allen in that famous 
scene from Annie Hall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPcSd7DDLk

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[Michael Jackson mjackso...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

One of the things I find interesting and amusing is the tales of the gods and 
goddesses in India, not to mention the tale of the enlightened sages all 
ascribe very human emotions like anger, jealousy, fear, suspicion, desire for 
revenge etc. to beings that in the case of the gods are supposed to be divine, 
and in the case of the rishis are supposed to be one with the divine. 

If these tales are true it means that the divine is screwed up and we in our 
current state with all its human foibles are the best divinity can manifest or 
it means the humans in our hubris just create the gods to be like us. 
  From: "TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com"  
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 4:17 AM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of 
many religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I 
have noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on the 
question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)
 

 From: "anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:08 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    Establishing the historicity of various religious characters today is 
pretty much impossible. Of the following, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, 
Mohammed, Shankara, only the latter two have much evidence that would just 
suggest they existed, primarily because they are a bit more recent. It seems 
more logical with the lack of definite evidence that these names can be used as 
'bookmarks' that delineate a certain point in the development of a tradition, a 
personification of what had  transpired up to that point. If we were to take 
the TMO holy tradition, only Shankara, Brahmanda Saraswati, Maharishi, and King 
Tony have a believable amount of evidence, and only the last three have really 
good historical evidence as to their existence. If we assume enlightenment 
exists, we could say that the 'tradition' of enlightenment is something 
generated in one's own mind as a means to remove the delusion that there is 
something called enlightenment that one can gain.
Barry, I read your post with the cartoon about the cat. It was heartbreaking 
for a friend of mine to look in the box, because it was her cat. She probably 
should not have opened it. In a way enlightenment is kind of parallel to this. 
You are looking for something you already have, and as long as you keep 
looking, you never find it. When you stop looking, truly stop looking, then you 
discover your search was in vain. What a relief!


---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

I am asking you to explain to us how ANYONE could possibly "research" such a 
question as the historical existence of Krishna and come up with an accurate 
answer. You seem to base a lot of your beliefs on "Maharishisez," meaning that 
*he* said something that you consider fact. What I am asking you to do is 
explain to us HOW he (or anyone else) could *possibly* determine that "Krishna" 
actually existed suf

[FairfieldLife] Help for those who obsess about Barry

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

I've noticed that the obsessors seem to be running out of bad things to say 
about me and where I live, so I thought I'd help them out.  :-)

42 Reasons The Netherlands Is The Worst Place On Earth

|   |
|   |  |   |   |   |   |   |
| 42 Reasons The Netherlands Is The Worst Place On EarthIt's just too flat. |
|  |
| View on www.buzzfeed.com | Preview by Yahoo |
|  |
|   |

[FairfieldLife] Re: Best photo I've seen of the recent eclipse

[j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

https://youtu.be/V2f-MZ2HRHQ https://youtu.be/V2f-MZ2HRHQ  

 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 Taken, of course, from a plane flying above the cloud layer. 

 

 
 

Re: [FairfieldLife] A Cat Sits on my Fence

[j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

 More like Nature is telling him that cats exist and that one is sitting on the 
fence near his neighbor's shady tree.

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 
Nature is telling you to wear cat's eye.
 From: "jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 4:16 PM
 Subject: [FairfieldLife] A Cat Sits on my Fence
 
 
   
 The cat, with a cream colored fur, is back hanging out again on the fence near 
my neighbor's shady tree.  Yesterday afternoon, I thought there was a dead cat 
on the fence.  When I went there to inspect, the cat woke up and scurried away.
 

 So now, I'm wondering what the cosmic significance is for this new development 
in the garden.  Can anyone guess what this means?

 


 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Fascinating interview. Thanks for passing it along.

  From: ultrarishi 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 7:07 AM
 Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Wozniak: Future of AI is Scary
   
    I watch or listen to quite a few podcast during the week. They make driving 
and menial task go quickly and can be occasionally fun. This particular 
interview by Leo Laporte of writer Mark Goodman is great.  In it, Mark mentions 
that the future of crime is AI.  His book Future Crime is actually mostly about 
what we've seen the past few years and what can be inferred from it.

With the poor state of computer security, I am believing that AI is a 
non-starter.  We can't trust it enough not to be suecure.

Triangulation 192 | TWiT.TV 
||
||||   Triangulation 192 | TWiT.TV  Future Crimes by Marc 
Goodman||
|  View on twit.tv  |Preview by Yahoo|
||

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[FairfieldLife] Best photo I've seen of the recent eclipse

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Taken, of course, from a plane flying above the cloud layer. 

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

You know, of course, that all of the "morphogenic feel-good" vibes you speak of 
below can be attributed to mood-making and the placebo effect, right? 

For example, at a cathedral in the south of France which is supposed to have 
the skull of Mary Magdalene as a relic, a somewhat skeptical priest in the 
1920s did a remarkably scientific experiment. He showed that skull and 
similarly-blackened-with-age skulls to a number of people, telling them all 
that the skull was Mary Magdalene's. Then he showed the same relic and the same 
similarly-blackened skulls to a second group of people, telling them that all 
the skulls were found in a nearby field. 

You can imagine the results -- the people told they were ordinary skulls "felt" 
nothing. The people told that the skulls they were viewing belonged to Mary 
Magdalene "felt" her holy presence. And they "felt" it whether it was really 
her skull or not. 

The priest, as you might expect, lost his position and was sent to a tiny 
church in the hinterlands of France with no relics for him to mess up the myth 
of.  :-)
  From: "yifux...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 
...As to the other illustrious persons, FFL is supposed to be a "Spiritual" - 
oriented forum, not one devoted to historical facts; in which case the 
objective is to make contact with the morphogenetic fields of the Persons (say 
Krishna); and then gain some type of Spiritual upliftment.  Naturally, there 
has to be some type of payoff, otherwise one is retreating into 
non-experiential speculation regarding their existenceFor example, go into 
a powerful ISKCON Temple, such as the one in the Culver City area of L.A. 
Listen to them chant a while and get really high in the Krishna vibes. Thus, 
Krishna can be an "experience", not just a not possibly existing entity we know 
nothing aboutSimilarly, there's a "feel good" experience possible with 
one's personal relationship to Jesus than transcends and is more uplifting than 
with ordinary relationshipsShankara is different - He sucks you into the 
Shiva/pure Consciousness vibes.Mohammed was historical but I don't know of 
anyone personally devoted to him.

  

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?

[TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

I am aware of the problems with establishing the historical existence of many 
religious figures, Xeno, but that isn't what I was getting at with JR. I have 
noticed in him a tendency that I doubt he is aware of -- or, if he is, he 
probably sees nothing wrong with. 

When claiming to believe in the existence of Krishna or similar figures from 
religious myth here in the past, he has cited as proof "scriptures" such as the 
Gita. Bzzt. Thanks for playing, but no win. Religious scriptures are NOT 
factual, no matter how many people believe they are. Scholars often don't even 
know the *century* many of them were written in, much less who wrote them. Best 
to consider them creative fiction written with the intent to inspire IMO.
The only *other* mechanism by which JR can claim to have "done research" on the 
question of whether someone like Krishna existed in real life or not is 
"seeing" -- meaning some kind of subjective realization or vision or intuition. 
While I admit that such things exist -- subjectively -- I do NOT admit that any 
of these "seeings" have anything to do with fact. If they did, more people who 
claim to be able to see the future would be millionaires.  :-)
I was just hoping to see JR try to actually posit and then defend some 
mechanism by which he thinks "proof" could be offered of Krishna's existence. 
If he actually tried, it might wake him up to the fact that the only reason he 
*does* believe in such silliness is that someone he holds as an "authority" 
said so. In other words, his only "proof" is the word "Maharishisez."
Now, as for Schroedinger's cat, I for one have no problem with someone being 
both alive and dead at the same time. Just look at Keith Richards -- the guy 
has looked like death on a stick since the 1960s, yet he still manages to tour 
and play some pretty good guitar. If that's not an example of Schroedinger's 
paradox, I don't know what is.  :-)

As for the answer to "What's in the big pink box, man?" that is as much of a 
koan as it was when posed in the movie "Buckaroo Banzai." Me, I kinda doubt 
it's enlightenment.  :-)
  From: "anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" 

 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:08 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
   
    Establishing the historicity of various religious characters today is 
pretty much impossible. Of the following, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, 
Mohammed, Shankara, only the latter two have much evidence that would just 
suggest they existed, primarily because they are a bit more recent. It seems 
more logical with the lack of definite evidence that these names can be used as 
'bookmarks' that delineate a certain point in the development of a tradition, a 
personification of what had  transpired up to that point. If we were to take 
the TMO holy tradition, only Shankara, Brahmanda Saraswati, Maharishi, and King 
Tony have a believable amount of evidence, and only the last three have really 
good historical evidence as to their existence. If we assume enlightenment 
exists, we could say that the 'tradition' of enlightenment is something 
generated in one's own mind as a means to remove the delusion that there is 
something called enlightenment that one can gain.
Barry, I read your post with the cartoon about the cat. It was heartbreaking 
for a friend of mine to look in the box, because it was her cat. She probably 
should not have opened it. In a way enlightenment is kind of parallel to this. 
You are looking for something you already have, and as long as you keep 
looking, you never find it. When you stop looking, truly stop looking, then you 
discover your search was in vain. What a relief!


---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

I am asking you to explain to us how ANYONE could possibly "research" such a 
question as the historical existence of Krishna and come up with an accurate 
answer. You seem to base a lot of your beliefs on "Maharishisez," meaning that 
*he* said something that you consider fact. What I am asking you to do is 
explain to us HOW he (or anyone else) could *possibly* determine that "Krishna" 
actually existed sufficiently that you would believe it to be fact. 

Don't be coy. You obviously believe this stuff. Now explain to us how you think 
it works. 

  From: "jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife]" 
 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 4:34 PM
 Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Could it be...Satan?
 
 Pastor Barry,
I said below that I did NOT research the matter personally.


---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

John, we've all seen you post things on this forum that leave no doubt that you 
believe that such mythical personalities as Krishna actually existed. You've 
actually said as much in the past, so there is no need to try to hide the fact 
now. 

What is more interesting, since you *are* trying to hide it, is HOW you claim 
you could "research the subject" and come up with a defini

[FairfieldLife] Re: Most Godless City in America

[jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

That's a good school.  I went to SH.  We used to be in the same league, AAA.  
Your cheerleaders used to perform during our rallies.  That was a treat.  But 
my school decided to join the WCAL many years ago.
 

---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,  wrote :

 jr_esq


I attended Lowell High.  How about you?